With the release of Max Baucus' finance committee plan, heat is turning up on Olympia Snowe, and today we see the first reports (at least the first ones I've seen) in which her fellow GOP senators are, ah, idly speculating on what might happen to her standing as a Senate Republican if she were the only GOPer to support healthcare reform. From the Politico:

Conservative Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said it would be "naive" and "very foolish" for any GOP senator to allow a Democratic proposal to advance, because the Democrats would ultimately change the bill to their liking in conference committee.

"It would be terrible if one Republican chose to basically sell out the whole [Republican] Conference, particularly in return for some naive idea that we can get some compromise here and that it's going to hold up in [a House-Senate] conference."

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said he didn't want to speculate how much backlash Snowe would receive from her caucus if she were the lone GOP senator to support the plan - but he also made clear that a lone defector would be in a tough spot.

"Except to say this: If Republicans are unanimous or maybe unanimous but one - that puts a real spotlight on anybody who does differ from all of their colleagues," Kyl said.

South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the Republican Policy Committee chairman, said each senator has his or her different priorities, but he added that "it would be disappointing if most of us agree and think it's a bad bill" and one GOP senator voted differently.

What they mean, of course, may include but not be limited to the following: strip her of her seniority; change her committee assignments so that she becomes the ranking Republican on something like the vital Subcommittee on Fresher Bread in the Senate Dining Room; lean on her big donors to see that her money dries up; et cetera. This is one reason why she's not publicly embracing the Baucus plan so far.

Of course, the Democrats know this, and one supposes that they might be in secret talks with her to change parties, making various Specter-ish promises to her.

But mostly, she and the Democrats understand that if she's going to vote yes, she needs cover. The first name mentioned here is always her co-Mainer, Susan Collins, and she's a plausible yes vote under certain circumstances.

But it's time to start considering dark horses, and mine is George Voinovich of Ohio. He's been plenty mavericky over the years, which you can read about here. And in July, when asked by the Columbus Dispatch about his party's biggest problem he said, "We got too many Jim DeMints and Tom Coburns. It's the southerners. They get on TV and go 'errrr, errrrr.' People hear them and say, 'These people, they're southerners. The party's being taken over by southerners. What they hell they got to do with Ohio?'"

Most of all, he's retiring next year. Unlike Snowe, he can't be touched by his party. He can just go live a nice life.

If I were Rahm Emanuel, I'd be studying the architectural drawings of the possibly-to-be-built George Voinovich Hospital, if you get my drift.